UPISC Workshop to Bring Stakeholders, Researchers Together for Improved Infrastructure Sensing
Robust, reliable infrastructure is essential for the nation’s safe and secure operation, including power generation, energy transportation, power grid, civil structures and renewable energy.
To meet the growing demands for infrastructure monitoring, traditional sensor technologies fall short in terms of capability, cost, and performance for monitoring spatially distributed infrastructure systems. Need exists to develop new technologies and deploy the latest state-of-art in distributed sensing technologies available.
From November 12-13, 2024 at the Energy Innovation Center in Pittsburgh, Pa., the University of Pittsburgh’s Infrastructure Sensing Collaboration (UPISC) workshop will bring together engineers and infrastructure stakeholders to enhance current collaborations and forge new partnerships aimed at developing and deploying sensor systems for monitoring critical infrastructure.
“Because of the major investments in U.S. infrastructure in recent years and needs for continued investment moving forward, this workshop seeks to increase awareness of technology opportunities and challenges associated with integration of advanced sensing technologies for intelligent infrastructure as well as related enabling technologies including digital twins and artificial intelligence based data analytics methods,” said Paul Ohodnicki, UPISC co-chair and associate professor of mechanical engineering and material science at Pitt.
For the 2024 workshop, the meeting will be organized in collaboration with the National Academy of Engineering as a National Academy Member led workshop and we will be adding a plenary session of speakers and panelists on the first day to facilitate a robust and timely discussion surrounding this critically important topic, including its impact on current U.S. policy. The second day’s agenda will be more traditional and technical, including a poster session with participating researchers.
“The workshop’s goal is to facilitate discussions among key stakeholders and technology researchers to ensure we are solving the most emerging problems with the best sensor technologies and to cultivate a world-class team ready to respond to funding agencies’ and industry’s calls for sensor and related technologies,” said Ruishu Wright, UPISC co-chair and research scientist with the National Energy Technology Laboratory. “By engaging and soliciting feedback from different stakeholders, we’ll not only be able to provide innovative and practical solutions but develop a robust workforce to support short and long term needs.”
Robert Lieberman, co-chair of UPISC and president of Lumoptix, said outdated monitoring techniques can’t meet the need for real-time monitoring.
“This will require a workforce that includes skilled technicians and tradespeople as well as high-level interdisciplinary scientists and technologists,” Lieberman said.
Dr. Rory Cooper, Director of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories — a mobility technology collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh and the US Department of Veterans Affairs, added that measurement and data are essential to managing U.S. infrastructure.
“Smart data driven management of infrastructure will lead to improved services and greater inclusion,” Cooper said.
The workshop is a collaborative effort between Pitt, National Academy of Engineering and NETL. The current agenda and registration details are available on the workshop’s website.
UPISC Website: www.engineering.pitt.edu/UPISC
Latest Agenda and Registration Link: Agenda 2024 (upisc.github.io)
Location : Energy Innovation Center, 1435 Bedford Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (Energy Innovation Center Pittsburgh (eicpittsburgh.org))
Dates: November 12th and 13th, 2024